Saturday, May 23, 2009

Here's the deal... the owner of the fashion company Forever 21 was on trial for selling knock offs of another deisgner's creations. Not that she cared much since she's had 50 other lawsuits slapped at her, denied even knowing how much her company grosses in a year (over $1.5 billion), and was a perfect master at the art of playing dumb. But as someone who loves, wears and sells ethically made clothing her ignorance to how & where the clothing was made is absolutely fascinating... I think her words on the witness stand (quoted below) spell out exactly everything about the fashion industry's attitude towards the world a large ---> aka- the little poor people don't count for shit, as long as they slave away sewing cheap imitations & the almost poor people buy it up like desperate hungry dogs. Personally the fact that she is on trial for knocking off some other garment is kind of the last rung on the ladder of a larger problem of how these types of businesses are run without any ethical standards- being the greater crime to humanity, but oh, the pity for the other whiny but vandalized designer who also makes unethical garments for us! It's like having two bratty children arguing in the school yard, when both are just as much an asshole as the other.

"As head buyer for the chain, Chang oversees a team of six or seven who select what to purchase from vendors. She doesn't know how the garments are made — "we simply trust the vendors and they manufacture the garment for us.” Selecting from the samples is easy. "We choose pretty ones," she explained." - New York Fashion, The Cut

PS- In the picture, her garments are on the top row and the original designs are on the bottom. lol. Accurate to the button color!